The Legend of the Timekeeper
by LuxLightshadow
Summary: Lux, a twelve year old brother has been chosen as the Timekeeper, but as he digs deeper into the secrets of the princess that hired him, he gets suspicious of her intentions.


The Timekeeper

Timekeepers, the top of their class. The ones entrusted with the magic of time. The Timekeepers were created long ago in Equestria as a way to protect the kingdom, but also have the Princess still in the capitol. Trained to survive on their own, and loyal to the princess. Only one though, can see the truth, and he alone can save the land. His name is Lux, Lux Dash.

Lux woke up, the night's moon shining on him. He stood up, walking over to the bathroom and splashing his face with water. He looked up into the mirror, looking at his light blue skin and rainbow hair. His strong wings and rose-red eyes. He sighed, and rested his head against the wall, thinking. The day of choosing the next Timekeeper was coming soon. He couldn't stop stressing over who they would choose.

"Please, not my sister." He whispered to nopony in particular. He was talking about his sister, Rainbow Dash. She was a really good flier, better than him, with the same mane, eye, and coat colors as him. They lived on a cloud together, just off of Ponyville. She was independent, but he still worried about her.

A knock at his door startled him. He turned around and looked at it. "Come in." He said. The door opened and Rainbow Dash walked in.

"Hey." She said to Lux. "Couldn't sleep?" He shook his head. "Me neither." She said. She walked over to him and nuzzled him. "So, what's up?" She asked him.

"Just worrying about tomorrow." He said to her. She nodded and sighed.

"Yeah. I don't want either of us to get picked." She said to him. He looked to her and kissed her forehead.

"I'd rather me than you." He said. She hugged him tightly.

"You always did have my back bro." She told him and let go. "Thanks." He rustled her mane a bit.

"Don't worry about it." He told her. "We should go to bed." She nodded and headed out. Lux went back into the bed, having a restless night.

Lux woke up the next morning, sweat dripping from his face as he stared up at the ceiling. He sighed and looked at his clock as he did every morning. Six o'clock, as usual. Then it hit him, he remembered why he was so worried. It was the day of the choosing of the next timekeeper.

He shot out of his bed, not bothering to straighten the covers, and ran out the door, grabbing his things. He and his sister had to get there fast. He ran into Rainbow's bedroom and woke her up.

"Quick, we have to go." He said to her urgently.

"Now? Why do we have to leave so early?" She asked, pulling the covers up over her. Lux yanked them off.

"Look, the choosing is today, alright? We have to go now." She sighed and got out of bed.

"Fine, let's go." She irritably said. Lux walked out the door, looking outside. The sky was dark and overcast. Definitely not a good sign. Rainbow Dash emerged from the house behind him, groggily wiping her eyes. "I still don't understand why the choosing has to be so early." She said to him. Lux shrugged.

"I don't know why either, but the princess wants it that way, so that's how it is." He said. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

"You've _got _to stop kissing up to her, make a stand, do _something _besides just listening to her commands." She told him. He groaned.

"I thought we went over this, if we go against the princess, we'll be thrown in jail. Do you really want that?" He asked her. She shook her head.

"No." He hugged her.

"I only do this because I love you, okay?" She shook her head. "Good. Now let's go." She nodded and left with Lux.

"Today, is a day of days." The princess called out. "It is the day that we choose our next timekeeper. Our last one, had an… unfortunate, accident. We have lost him to the Timekeeper's Silence one more…" Rainbow Dash leaned over to Lux.

"What's the Timekeeper's Silence?" She whispered.

"It's supposedly a place that the timekeepers get lost in that they can't escape from and die in." He said. She nodded.

"…And so, it's time for the choosing. We have chosen from a list of qualified ponies, and have come to a decision." Lux was sweating with worry that the name that was called would be his sister. "Lux Dash." He looked up in surprise. Him?! What could make him so qualified? "Would Lux Dash please come here?" He looked to his sister, who looked extremely worried.

"You should go." She said. Reluctantly, he started to walk up to the princess. She looked down at him smiled. She then looked up to the others.

"My sister Luna will now conclude the ceremonies." An allicorn with a navy blue coat and a mane that looked like the night sky approached and looked to the princess.

"Go sister, I'll take things from here." Princess Celestia nodded and walked off with Lux.

"We'll be going to a chamber that's locked to everypony but the timekeepers and me." Lux nodded in understanding. Celestia walked Lux to a room that had a glowing lock. She walked over to it and whispered something. Instantly, the glowing lock faded away. "Follow me closely." She said, Lux nodded, doing as he was told. As they stepped in, the door slammed shut behind him. Instantly, the princess turned around and slammed him to the wall. "Now listen closely, you answer to me, and only me. If you disobey any orders, I'll have you personally killed." Shakily, Lux nodded. Celestia threw him to the ground. "Good, now listen closely. I'm giving you a gift, the ability to control time itself. You're going to need a few things though. First of all, you're wings won't support traveling through time. I can enhance them to be able to, at that point, they'll be nearly indestructible. Next, you'll need a horn. To use magic like this, it's going to have some strong magic in it. Now get ready." Before he could do anything to prepare, a bright light erupted from Celestia's horn.

For a second, Lux's vision faded, but it soon came back. He didn't feel any different. He looked at his wings and realized in surprise that their appearance had changed. They weren't like regular wings anymore, they were morphed, some sort of skeletal frame held them in place. He looked down at himself and realized that his colors had changed too. Instead of the light sky blue he knew, it had turned white, and his rainbow mane was now a deep black. His ruby-red eyes were now a bright gold. He reached up and felt a horn on his head. Then a question hit him.

"How will I know how and when to use my magic?" He asked. Celestia smiled deviously.

"Oh, you'll know, trust me, you'll know." Lux sighed, wanting to know more. She started to walk out when she stopped. "Oh yes, I seem to have forgotten, you will be stationed in Ponyville, there you will be patrolling the town, there seem to have been a number of disappearances there, and second of all, do not listen to my sister, ever." She turned away and walked out of the room.

Lux walked into his new house located in the center of Ponyville. It was a nice place, two bedrooms, a living room, two bathrooms, small, but cozy. He ran his hoof along a couch that was sitting in the middle of the living room. He went over to the kitchen, opening the refrigerator, sighing at it's emptiness. He then picked up his bags and left for his room, unpacking when he got there. Suddenly, a ringing came at the phone in the living room. He rushed over and picked it up.

"Hello?" The pony on the other end was hysterical.

"S-she's GONE!" The pony cried. Instantly, Lux was on full alert.

"Hold on, I'll be right there, just stay put, what is your address?" After gaining this pony's address, he rushed out the door, heading straight into a future that would lead eventually, to a trap.

Timekeeper's Shadow

To Lux's side, the phone rang. He looked at it for a second, pondering whether or not to answer. Finally, his curiosity got the best of him and he answered.

"What?" He asked irritably.

"Sh-she's gone!" The pony on the other end cried. I sighed to myself. Another one missing. That was at least five or six that week. It started off small, one a week or so, but then it got more suspicious, multiple disappearances, blood splatter. Something wasn't right with what was going on.

"Hold on, I'll be right there." I put the phone down, put on my jacket, and rushed out the door.

Pinkie walked out of Sugar Cube Corner, just finishing another pony, and was looking for her next victim. She had lost count of how many ponies she had killed, and the town was getting suspicious, especially the allicorn they called Lux that had moved in. Right after she had killed Rarity, her friends became weary, not sure of what to think. Pinkie had to be more careful. She strode down through an ally, and soon came upon the house of her last kill, suddenly, she felt a twitch in her gut, and immediately stopped. That feeling meant that her next victim would be nearby. Who would guess that it would be two ponies in the same place?

She looked around, waiting for the next twitches, waiting patiently in the shadows. Soon, a black and white allicorn with golden eyes and a ying-yang as a cutie mark flew down, and she felt the twitches. She scowled. Just her luck to have _him_ be the victim, but it was also lucky. If she could get rid of him, then there would be less of a threat. She smiled deviously to herself. How would she do this? It was in the middle of the night, he would surely question her if she just came walking out… or would he?

Lux looked at the household, a pony crying in despair at his side.

"So what was her name?" He asked the pony. Through sniffling and tears, she answered.

"Her name… was Octavia." He thought this over in his head. Octavia? What could this pony want with her? Nothing seemed to be adding up, the victims coming at random, without any pattern at all.

"I'll set up a search warrant okay? For now, just sit tight. I'll have an officer come by to protect you." He said and left.

Pinkie saw Lux leaving and decided that this was her chance to put her plan into action. She ran out over to him.

"Hey Lux!" She called and he stopped and as he saw her, his face lit up.

"Hey, it's nice to see you still alive out here." He said with a sigh.

"Another one went missing?" She asked, faking curious perfectly. Lux nodded.

"Yeah, it was your sister Octavia this time." Pinkie looked at him in fake surprise.

"No! My sister?!" He nodded in sympathy.

"Yes. If there's anything I could do for you Pinkie, just call me." He said to her.

"Actually Lux, there is something." He stopped and looked at her.

"Yeah?" He asked in curiosity. She blushed a little when she replied to him.

"Well, I was wondering… if you'd stop by Sugar Cube Corner tomorrow?… You know, to talk." He nodded.

"Sure. I'd like to." He started to walk away and then stopped. "Wait, do you mean as like… a date?" He asked. Pinkie shook her head furiously.

"No, of course not, just… to talk." Lux shrugged.

"Okay, I'll meet you there in the morning. See you then." He said and walked off into his small home.

Pinkie rushed home, excited to get ready for the next day. She would have to work quick to make a batch of her "Special" cupcakes. This would be easy, super easy. So easy that she didn't even know how to explain how easy it was. She giggled to herself.

"I can't _believe _he fell for that." She said to herself, getting out her materials and cook book. "I just hope that he's as much fun as Rarity and Rainbow Dash were." She said, a sly smile stretched across her face. "Let's get cooking."

"RINGGG!" The sound of his alarm woke Lux up. He lazily pulled himself out of bed and shut it off, looking at the time.

"Why do I get up at five?" He asked himself. He sighed and trotted over to his bathroom, walking to the shower and shutting it on. He waits for the water to heat up, and when he gets in, he quickly jumps back out, shutting of the water. He looks down at where the water, or what he thought was water, had first touched his coat. It was a deep blood-red. Then he looked at the floor of the shower and found the same thing. "How did that get into the system?" He asked himself, leaning over and tasting it, he quickly spits it back out. "Definitely blood." He tells himself and stands up, deciding to skip the shower. He pulled out a comb, and fixed his mane so that it spiked back as usual, then headed out the door, remembering his meeting with Pinkie.

Pinkie rushed to put the finishing touches on her cupcakes for Lux, and just finishes when she hears a knock at the door. She rushes over, and opens it to reveal the young stallion allicorn.

"You said you wanted to talk to me?" He asked and she nodded.

"Yes, come in." She led him inside, and sat him down. "Would you like something to eat? A cupcake?" She offered him one of the cupcakes in the batch she had made. He smiles and picks one up, examining it.

"Thanks." He said. He sniffs it, then tastes it and suddenly his eyes go wide as he whispers to himself. "Shadows." He drops the cupcake to the ground, an odd blue glow escaping it as it splatters everywhere. He then looks up at Pinkie, especially into her eyes. They are blue, dark blue, almost glowing. She has a light blue tint to her, and he suddenly realizes what's happening. "Look, I've got some important… things I need to do so," Pinkie cut him off.

"You're leaving already? But we've only began to have fun." Around him, the world began to sway. Even with that tiny dose of the infectious virus, it still had a big effect. The world was going dark around him and the last thing he saw was Pinkie standing over him, smiling.

'Not again… not again, not again, not again.' The phrase went through his mind over and over again in his dreaming state, and finally he woke up. The world around him was dark and black. He tried to pry his eyes open, but he was so weak. Finally, with a lot of pain and effort, he lifted his eyelids. Immediately, he regretted the action. The walls were red with blood, and the corpses of ponies were lying everywhere, mutilated, obviously killed slowly. He took a shaky, deep breath, glancing around nervously. His heart was beating furiously, refusing to slow itself. He shook his head.

"Fuck… how do I always get into this shit?" He questioned himself. In front of him, a pink blur walked back and forth, preparing for something. As his vision cleared up more, he saw that this figure was Pinkie. He once more shook his head, but this time, he shook it in disappointment. "I really thought it wasn't you Pinkie." He said. "I really trusted you." She looked up at him.

"Oh goodie, you're awake, now we can begin our fun." She said to him, pulling out a sharp knife. "Oh where to begin?" She asked cheerily. It was then that he noticed what she was wearing. It was a dress, made from the cutie marks of the ponies she had killed. There were wings of different colors crudely sewn onto the back, and on her neck was a necklace with the horns of unicorns she had killed. "We could start with your horn, no, maybe your mane? No, oh! How about your cutie mark… Nah. That's it! I'll start with your wings!" She looked at his wings, and realized something. "That's odd, I've never seen this kind of wing before." She said.

"It's a timekeeper's wing." At the word "Timekeeper," she straightened up, and glared at him.

"W-what did you say?" She asked, genuine fear in her eyes.

"A timekeeper's wing. We need them to be able to do our job." Pinkie strayed away from where Lux was strapped in.

A timekeeper? What was a timekeeper doing in Ponyville? Oh she was in so much trouble right now. Timekeepers were extremely powerful, and part of the royal guard, trusted with the ability to control and travel through time. And if he was a timekeeper that meant that he knew that… oh no. She had to keep doing this though, she couldn't stop now.

Pinkie walked back over to Lux. "I think I'll just start with your horn." She said, and a sly smile grew across Lux's face.

"Oh, I figured you'd start there Pinkie… or is it okay if I call you Manak?" She straightened up again. He did know… she was in real trouble now. She pulled out a knife and held it to his throat.

"You don't know what it feels like Lux, to have this _thing _inside me, telling me what to do, and who to kill." Tears began to form in her eyes. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT'S DOING TO ME!" She screamed. Lux's horn glowed with a small light and he floated out of his restraints next to her.

"I do." She looked up at him and sniffed. She could see honesty in his eyes, but she didn't believe him.

"Liar!" She swung the knife at him, just missing. "Liar! You don't know how it feels!" She said in complete anger.

"Yes I do Pinkie! I do know how it feels to have a Shadow inside you! All you feel is pain and suffering, and the only way to feel better is to just listen to it, but you can't listen to it Pinkie!" She glared at him, a raging fire in her eyes.

"You're nothing like me! Don't even pretend to feel sorry!" She said and tossed the knife, Lux dodging it as it imbedded itself into the wall.

"I'm not pretending Pinkie, I'm not! I promise you that I'm… Not… PRETENDING!" He grabbed the knife from the wall and stabbed it into Pinkie's foreleg. Warm blood began to seep from her wound. She looked up at Lux with pleading eyes, and what she saw, were not gold, but the deep, glowing blue. Suddenly, it faded away back into gold and he slowly backed away in horror. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" Tears were in his eyes. Pinkie reached out for him, but he shoed her. "NO! Stay away from me!" The blue began to return, forming around his entire body, and he stood up again, and turned to look at her, with deep blue eyes, and a psychotic smile.

Suddenly, the smile faded, along with the blue tint as Lux gripped his head and ducked. "No, I won't do it… I won't listen." Then, Pinkie realized that he wasn't lying, he had a shadow in him like her. He was just barely holding onto his sanity. She had to do something, but the voice of her shadow was too overwhelming.

"I… I don't want to listen to you… I can't… leave me alone!" She backed away, and suddenly, the pain was gone, all of it. Lux looked up at her.

"No… I won't either… I… will not… listen!" He stood up, and the pain dispersed. He ran over to Pinkie, and hugged her, she returned the favor. Both had tears in their eyes, but then, they heard a voice behind them.

"Oh look here Manak, two lovebirds." Lux spun around to find a two blue masses in the shape of ponies.

"Uh oh, Nora, it looks like we made them mad." One of them said jokingly.

"You, you did this to us." Lux said accusingly.

"And we'd do it again, given the chance." Nora said. She walked up to him, placing a hoof under his chin. "It was fun being with you for all these years timekeeper. I definitely had a fun time with all the places you took me." Lux looked to Pinkie and mouthed the word, 'run.' Without hesitation, she listened, but Manak blocked her path.

"Ah ah ah, don't want you missing us killing your friend." Manak said with a joking tone. Nora, got closer to Lux, backing him into a wall.

"You killed our species you timekeepers, now we're going to make you pay for what you've done." Nora grabbed a knife from the table, stabbing it into Lux's side. He bit his lip, holding back a cry of pain. She pulled the knife out, and brought it up to his face. "You have some beautiful eyes Lux, I'd hate to waste them" She brought the blade of the knife down next to his eye. He had to think fast, to save himself. He glanced quickly around for something he could do, but he could only find one thing.

Just as Nora was about to put the knife into Lux's eye, he grabbed her foreleg with his hooves, and brought the knife into her eyes. Blood sprayed out of the wound as she gripped her eye, the knife still stuck inside. She screamed in anguish and stumbled backwards, and finally pulled out the knife, her eye coming with it. She was just bringing the knife up when she felt a pain in her throat. She looked down to find Lux, his horn lodged in her jugular. She gasped for air, but nothing came as she fell to the ground, the life leaving her eyes.

Then Lux turned to Manak, who held Pinkie with a saw to her throat.

"Don't move, or I'll kill her." She threatened. Lux thought for a second. Timekeepers weren't supposed to use their powers unless there was a serious emergency. He shrugged to himself, this counted. As he began to move, time slowed. Within the blink of an eye, he was already upon Manak, removing the saw from her hooves. Time went back to normal as Pinkie escaped, and Lux threw the saw to the ground, tackling Manak into a wall. He pulled his hoof back, and punched her square in the nose, where blood began to slowly drip. He pulled it back again, punching her in the eye. He punched again and again, but then as he pulled it back once more, Manak, landed her hoof on his face, making him stumble back.

She gripped him at his shoulders, pinning him to the ground, and picking up the saw. She pressed it to his throat and asked one question. "Any last words timekeeper?" He breathed heavily. Then he smiled.

"Yeah, forgetting somepony." Suddenly, Manak's eyes grew wide as blood began to trickle out of her mouth. Her body went limp, and fell to the ground, revealing Pinkie, a knife in her hoof.

"She was starting to really piss me off." She said, and helped Lux up. "So what do we do now? I mean, I killed half the town." Lux looked to the ground thinking.

"Nopony's going to believe a timekeeper. If the princess finds out, she'll kill me… We have to go back to before you even started this, when you felt that first twitch. We'll be together, and I can stop you." She nodded.

"But how are we going to do that?" He smiled.

"Like this." He slammed her against a wall, except that when she was expecting to feel the wall, she didn't, she felt like she was falling. Falling through a white tube, falling through time. They were gone.

Timekeeper's Silence

"Okay, where are we?" Pinkie asked, standing up. She and Lux had gone through the time portal, back to before she had killed anypony, but the rift had taken them somewhere she didn't know of.

"We have apparently been shot into the Timekeeper's Silence." He said. Pinkie looked at Lux confused.

"The what?" She asked, not knowing what he was talking about. He looked over to her.

"The Timekeeper's Silence. You see, we have full control of when we land after going through a rift, but where is a whole different story. Usually we can control it, but every once in a while, we're sent here, and we usually can't get out." Lux said with a heavy sigh.

"Wait, so you mean we're trapped here? In this wasteland? There's nothing here! How can we survive?" She asked in frustration. Lux sighed again and looked at the ground.

"That's the thing, it's called the Timekeeper's Silence because out here, this is where we're silenced, never heard from again, this is where we go to die." He looked back up again. "Well, there's no point in staying here, so let's find a way out of this desolate place." Lux said, walking off. Pinkie stood there, slightly surprised. He turned around to look at her. "Well, you coming?" She quickly started running after him.

The Timekeeper's Silence, dark and desolate, the souls of thousands doomed to its burning grounds. Lux breathed heavily as he walked, tired from walking. He turned around, looking to Pinkie.

"How you holding up back there?" He asked. She looked up to him, also breathing heavily.

"Hot." Was all she could manage. Lux nodded and wiped his forehead of sweat.

"Yeah, tell me about it." He said and turned around again. "Where the hell is the water in this place?" He asked himself. The heat of the planet was becoming a lot for the duo to handle. If they didn't find water soon, they would die. Pinkie looked up to him. "Why don't you just fly up and look for water?" She asked him. Lux sighed.

"Because I don't have the energy to fly. It takes a lot of that just so you know." He said to her irritably, the heat obviously getting to his head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, I just was asking." She said, "With you being a timekeeper, I thought that you might be different…" At that point, Lux spun around, cutting her off.

"I didn't ask for any of this!" He yelled. "I didn't ask to be a timekeeper! I was just like you once. I had wings though, but that's besides the point! I did what I did only because I had to, and if I didn't they would kill me! Not only would they kill me, but they would kill my sister!" Tears formed in his eyes.

"Y-your sister?" Pinkie asked, as she cowered down. Lux sighed and turned away.

"Yes, my sister. A pegasus, like I used to be. Her name is Rainbow Dash." Fear struck at Pinkie's heart.

"O-oh yeah, I know her. She's my best friend." Lux looked at her and smiled lightly.

"That's right, she did used to tell me about you and her other friends." Lux sighed, missing his sister. "I haven't said hello to her in a while. I'll drop by when we get out of here." He told himself. Pinkie looked at him, a question popping into her mind.

"Lux, how did you get your shadow?" Lux paused for a moment, looking to the ground.

"I'd rather not talk about that." He said, but Pinkie wouldn't let it go.

"Please? I _really _want to know." Lux sighed.

"A few years ago, before I had become a timekeeper, something happened. Rainbow Dash and I were out, just exploring, this time in a desert in the south parts of Equestria, when we came across a stone building, it looked old, so, we decided to go inside and check it out. Well, what we found was a seal with a spear in the center of it. We were young back then, and decided to see what would happen if you pulled the spear out. Of course, nothing good ever happens after somepony does something like that.

A bright blue light appeared from where the spear was, and the seal began to crack. I told Rainbow to run, and she did, but I was left to face those two shadows. I thought I killed one, that was Manak, but the other one found it's way into me, that was Nora. I've been resisting her presence for about three years now." He looked up at the sky, bright blue. A warm wind passed over the infinite desert, picking up sand along with it. "Come on, we should keep on moving." He said and continued walking, Pinkie walking quietly behind him.

On the horizon came a surprise. After traveling for what seemed like hours, they had found what looked like civilization. A small desert village.

"But, how could they possibly survive out here?" Pinkie asked. Lux shrugged.

"Well obviously there has to be some sort of water around here, or else that place would be abandoned, and that doesn't look abandoned to me." He pointed to a group of ponies dressed in white cloth, with sand goggles. As he pointed, they glanced at him, and immediately ran into the village. "Hmm. I wonder what that was all about." Suddenly, an arrow imbedded itself into the ground next to him. Now he understood. They weren't welcome here, and now he knew why. They were still in Equestria, in the same desert that he and his sister had been in when they discovered the shrine. He took Pinkie's foreleg. He knew how to deal with these ponies, he'd done it before. "Quickly, follow my every move. As an arrow shot at him, he stopped it in mid-air, spinning it, and launching it back at the pony, hitting it square in its goggle. It fell from the rooftop, life escaping its body as Lux deflected another arrow. Then, two appeared on the ground carrying large, curved swords.

Lux ducked under the sweeping swords, using the ponies' own weapons to his advantage as they hit each other, killing one-another. He took one quick look behind him to make sure Pinkie was following and smiled at her. A pony then jumped at him from a rooftop, a knife in its mouth. In mid-air, he spun the knife around and shoved it through the ponies throat, blood splattering his pure white coat.

As if on cue, a large hulking pony holding a hammer in it's mouth stepped out from behind one the buildings. Lux jumped back from the pony as its hammer slammed into the ground, sending a spray of sand in all directions, and momentarily blocking Lux's view. As if out of nowhere, the hammer swung through the raised sand, hitting Lux in the head and knocking him into a building.

Lux quickly stood back up, his vision blurry from the attack. He saw a mass coming at him and jumped to the side to avoid it, just missing the hammer crushing him into the ground. His vision restored itself to its original state and he could see again. It was now that he saw that this hulking giant was missing a leg. It's only weakness was that. It was heavily armored with not only muscle, but leather. The thought of skinning an animal for its hide repulsed him, and distracted him from another attack, that hit him in the ribs.

As the hammer impacted him, he could feel as his ribs cracked and he was sent yet again, into a wall. This time, though, the wall gave way and he was sent flying into a table inside. Quickly, he got to his hooves, stumbling slightly. He wiped some blood that dripped from his lip. He had to find a way to kill this thing, fast, or he would surely die here. He stepped back out into the open and looked right at the pony. A missing leg, and its head looked very odd with all that extra armor… wait, extra armor, that must be hiding something that he needed to get to if he wanted to win this. The beast swept its hammer along the ground, Lux swiftly jumping over it. He ducked under another sweeping attack. Finally, the attack that he was waiting for. The hammer slammed into the ground.

Quickly, Lux hopped up onto the end and ran up its length just managing to get the ponies helmet off before being swung off and back onto the ground. He rolled out of the way as the hammer slammed into the ground, almost crushing him. He stood up and backed away as two ponies holding swords jumped from the rooftops. He ducked and dodged the swinging blades and avoided a barrage of arrows from archers on the houses. Then they got a bit too close to him, and Lux grabbed their head, slammed them into each other then into the ground, knocking them unconscious. Now all he had to do was avoid the arrows and attack the pony right? Wrong. Now the end of the hammer was glowing white with heat, all the way up to the end. How could it even hold that? Everything that the hammer touched turned white hot now. He had to find a way to cool it down. He glanced around and noticed a well. If he could move all the water in the well onto the hammer at once, it could be enough to cool it down. The pony saw this too and moved to guard the well. Great, that wasn't what he needed. He would have to find a way to distract it if he wanted to get out of there alive.

Suddenly, a streak of pink flashed through the air as Pinkie shot in front of the giant. It shot its head towards her as she landed, determination in her eyes. Lux smiled lightly to himself. Then he remembered that the pony was distracted, and went for the well. Focusing all of his magic, he brought all the water in the well out and maneuvered it quickly to the ponies hammer, cooling it down enough to walk on.

The pony saw that its defenses were down and turned to attack, but by that time was already too late. Lux had found his way up on the hammer and ran up to the pony's head. He jumped up as the pony swung its hammer to get him off, landed behind its head, and with a powerful, and swift blow, smashed its head in.

The pony fell to the ground, life leaving its body. Lux hopped off of it, wiping sweat from his forehead as he looked at it. Then he looked at Pinkie.

"Thanks. You saved my life." He said to her in gratitude. She smiled at him.

"Well, you saved mine too, so I guess we're even." She said to him and brushed up against him as she started walking. "So where's this water you were talking about?" She said.

"There is none." Somepony said from behind a building. Instantly, Lux went on guard. "Whoa, there's no need to be alarmed, I'm not exactly like them. A pony with a scruffy, sandy mane and a tan coat walked out. "Name's Sandstorm. You can just call me Storm though if you like." He said to Lux.

"And how do I know I can trust you?" Lux asked. Sandstorm smiled.

"Because I know where the water is." He said to Lux. Lux sighed.

"Fine, show us the way." Lux said irritably to Sandstorm.

As they walked, Lux turned to Sandstorm. "What was that thing back there?" Sandstorm turned to look at Lux.

"I don't know. Most likely an experiment gone wrong." He said, "It's happened before you know, just a bit coincidental that you showed up." Lux nodded.

"Yeah, well that's the life of a timekeeper." He said looking off into the distance. He then looked back at Pinkie. "You okay back there?" He called. Pinkie nodded.

"Yeah, just a bit hot." Lux laughed.

"Yeah, we all are." He replied jokingly.

They reached the top of a sand dune to find a large ring. On it's edges were what looked like ancient symbols, spiraling to the center. Outside the circle were four pillars. Lux looked around at the circle. "So is this it? Our way out?" He asked to Sandstorm, and he nodded.

"Yes… good luck." Suddenly, a gust of wind blew by, and Sandstorm was gone. Pinkie soon caught up with Lux and looked at the ring.

"Good luck?" Lux asked himself confused. He then turned to Pinkie. "Come on, let's get out of here." He said and slid down the dune carefully. As he hit the bottom, he walked over to a pillar, feeling it. He noticed that it appeared to give off an energy and noticed a slight glow. "Well that's odd." He whispered and walked into the circle, not waiting for Pinkie.

As soon as he was inside, the glow around the pillars intensified, and beams of light shot from one pillar to another. A forcefield of some sort. On the other side of the circle, a black figure appeared, looking like him in every way, but color. "Oh joy." He said to himself and readied himself for an attack, when suddenly, the symbols on the rings began to emit a otherworldly light.

Around him, the world shifted, the pillars disappeared, and the rings turned into crystal. What used to be a desert, was now a town. He looked down at himself, he was different too. He wasn't a pony. His coat was gone, replaced by skin. He stood on two legs instead of four. He was now a human. He looked back up to the figure, who was now holding a sword. The figure nodded to the ground in front of Lux, and he looked down to find an identical sword, and picked it up.

He felt the swords weight in his hands as he held it, examining its steel blade. He rubbed his thumb along the leather hilt, and gripped it in both of his hands. He felt something, almost as if the figure was smiling.


End file.
